jets or helos?

[Tom Woodside]

Don't sweat it. Just like Primary...except faster.

Know your EP's cold, study ahead about 2 flights, take every bit of advice your instructors give you (they know exactly what you will screw up before you do it), and don't be the ***** that puts wings license plates on his car prior to getting them. That doesn't go over very well.

[John Casey]

Originally Posted by Tom Woodside

don't be the ***** that puts wings license plates on his car prior to getting them. That doesn't go over very well.

Not going to be a problem. I haven't yet bought the brown Oxfords that Navy pilots wear instead of the blacks. Winged pilots don't care if we wear those, but I can't bring myself to do even that.

[Kevin Mack]

I didn't even touch wings until I got pinned on. Bad juju.

[Tom Woodside]

Originally Posted by John Casey

Not going to be a problem. I haven't yet bought the brown Oxfords that Navy pilots wear instead of the blacks. Winged pilots don't care if we wear those, but I can't bring myself to do even that.

Go ahead and buy the brown shoes. Truth is, you will catch flack for having the black shoes on. They make you look like a SWO. Your instructors may not like you, but they damn sure like you more than they like SWO's. Do NOT buy brown boots for your flight suit until you get to the fleet. Very bad juju.

I went through flight school with guys that wouldn't wear the brown shoes and I went through with guys that wore the brown ones. Guess what? The attrition rate is equal among both groups.

[Ben Chapman]

I would have posted in here earlier, but I'm a mobility guy, so I had to get out of the bunk, then pour myself some coffee and finish playing games on my iphone first.

Whatever you end up flying, you're going to fall in love with it. The only thing worse than the worst flying assignment, is a non-flying assignment.

[John Casey]

Originally Posted by Tom Woodside

I went through flight school with guys that wouldn't wear the brown shoes and I went through with guys that wore the brown ones. Guess what? The attrition rate is equal among both groups.

Those are wise and nerve-racking words. I only hope I don't learn firsthand about the a-word rate.

[Tom Woodside]

Originally Posted by John Casey

Those are wise and nerve-racking words. I only hope I don't learn firsthand about the a-word rate.

Ahh, don't worry about it. Just work hard and you'll be fine. If I remember right, the attrition rate once you get to Advanced is like 6-7% and it goes down to about 2% once you get to the RAG.

What tends to happen is that the "quality spread" guys and gals tend to make up that 6-7% that attrite. I'm sure that there is one guy that will be in your class that you will be wondering, "How in the hell did this idiot get jets?" He's the one that won't make it to the boat.

Get your boat pattern down cold. That was one thing I remember pilots telling me. You need to start looking at case 1 departure and approach now so that it just comes naturally when you go to the boat. The last thing you need to be doing is trying to look at your gouge sheet when you are in holding over the boat. You'll have enough to worry about once you get in the groove.

Best of luck to you out there. Try to enjoy south Texas. Once you get past the heat, it's a pretty great place. PM me if you need any travel suggestions while you are in Texas if you get a long weekend or something. In the mean time, get yourself trained up real well so you can go kill terrorists for the rest of us.

[Robert D Taylor Jr]

Originally Posted by John Casey

Those are wise and nerve-racking words. I only hope I don't learn firsthand about the a-word rate.

What they told me at SWCC "Don't quit, don't fail...you'll be fine" 90% of the folks who wanted to fly are nowhere near where you're at. Most of th "attrition" already happened.

PS I'll talk to Navy Pilots about ethos. I'm just saying...